#1904 – MOTHER RUSSIA – Renaissance – 12/28/2019

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s brutal and uncompromising description of political repression and terror “The Gulag Archipelago” was published in the original Russian in Paris on this date in 1973. The book was the first of a three-volume work and was quickly translated and published in the United States just a few months later. It made quite a lather in its day; those days at the height of The Cold War.

This song is a musical tribute to Solzhenitsyn by the British classical rock band Renaissance. The band was originally formed by former members of The Yardbirds, but ultimately found its’ stride as a quintet. This line-up didn’t stay together too long but the classic combination featuring John Tout (piano), Michael Dunford (guitar) and Annie Halsam (voice) produced some amazing music that transcended a lot of the synthesizer noodling that was prevalent in progressive rock at the time with exceptional musicianship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP0rXRt5dog

MOTHER RUSSIA - 1974